We went to see Larry's dad this evening. When we got there, he was being transfused w/ his 2nd bag of plasma & I think they were going to bring in a 3rd when that one emptied. His BP was 144/100! Larry told me in the car on the way back that your BP can rise like that when you have a very low blood volume b/c your heart's having to work really hard to move that little bit of blood around. That's why they were giving him the plasma to boost the blood volume til his body remakes it. His pulse was also way up for the same reason.
Apparently he woke up at 5-something this morning & bled a ton when he went to the bathroom. He was feeling rough & he said he'd thrown up last night, so he called Larry's mom (who lives down the road--they're divorced but still really good friends). She was a nurse for a long time so she knows her stuff medically speaking. She came to check on him & he asked to be taken to the hospital. She took him in & stayed with him til she had to go to work. His mother (Larry's grandmother) came up & stayed w/ him after that.
Anyway, there are no big changes. They're doing a scope (upper GI) test in the morning to see if they can locate the bleed site. If they can't (and I doubt they will--sounds like it's a lower GI tract bleed) they may do a colonoscopy to see if they can find it that way. I suspect it'll be the same issue as last time. They will locate all sorts of bleeding areas, but all too high up for them to do anything about, they'll send him home & take him off the blood thinner for a while until he starts having other problems w/ his heart & then they'll put him back on the med and the whole cycle will start again.
Frustrating....but I'm glad that he appears to be OK this time.
10 years ago
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